The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, July 16, edition that three months from an election, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz has delivered an economic assessment that does Prime Minister Stephen Harper's political election plans no favours. The Globe's guest columnist Campbell Clark writes that the BOC has raised the prospect that Canada is in recession and that the federal budget surplus has turned to deficit. Mr. Campbell says the BOC's move Wednesday, coupled with Mr. Poloz comments, throws a spanner at the reputation of Mr. Harper as an economic manager. Canada might already be in recession, at a time when the United States is not. The BOC revised its growth rate for 2015 to an anemic 1 per cent. That means the slim budget surplus Finance Minister Joe Oliver projected in April has been washed away, so the budget is probably now, albeit just slightly, in the red. Mr. Campbell says Mr. Harper took credit for economic successes and he will take blame if things go awry. The PM sells himself as a safe economic manager in an uncertain world. That is critical to his election message. A deficit, even one so small it is economically insignificant, is a major symbolic blow.